On December 4th, 2024, Hinsdale South High School will introduce its very first Boys Badminton Tournament, hosted by Mr. Bondi, a coach at South. When asked about what motivated him to plan this, he says that “[Hinsdale South has] seen an increase this year during our Wednesday night intramurals among boys who play badminton. Many of these students play badminton outside of our building and after discussion with several of them, we all thought it would be fun to provide them a small venue to compete.” Although he doesn’t have any strong opinions about the IHSA offerings, he claims that “we’ve seen an uptick in boys interested in badminton.” Lastly, he’s planning “to meet the demand of the students’ interest during intramurals”. If this is something that generates interest and provides an opportunity for them to have fun, we would explore doing it annually for sure.” 

One of these passionate players includes sophomore Rohan Joshi. Going into the tournament, Rohan feels confident. To prepare for this tournament, he “trains at Midwest for four hours at least, or five, so it isn’t anything out of the ordinary,” and when asked about his opinions about the badminton team being only for girls, he states that “because they added girl’s flag football, the IHSA should make it a sport because I know a lot of boys [at Midwest] that want to play [for their school].” 

Freshman Allsti Mei also says “I’ve been regularly going to the weekly intramural nights, since that is the only time I can play badminton, since I don’t do a club. I feel like the IHSA should add a boys badminton team since there are many boys who play badminton and it should be more inclusive. I personally would join a boys badminton team for Hinsdale South if we had one.” 

Many members of the South community are excited for Wednesday’s event. Additionally, many share similar opinions about boys badminton being an official high school sport. We hope this tournament becomes a great success and we can continue this competition in the future!